


Breaking out of a soldier’s boundary

by t3f3r



Category: Neopets
Genre: F/F, Girls Kissing, Kissing, Military, Military Backstory, Military Ranks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-19
Updated: 2017-03-05
Packaged: 2018-09-09 21:16:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8912287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/t3f3r/pseuds/t3f3r
Summary: After the awards ceremony on Virtupets Station, the newly appointed Private First Class Sela Pretore heads out to ask the Sergeant Keetra Deile a very important question. However an email from one of the Commanders threatens to make Sela’s plans come crashing down. So now the young Xwee has to break out of a soldier’s boundary to show her feelings for her friend. Hopefully it will buy more time for them to stay together…





	1. A New Rank

**Author's Note:**

> I had wrote this story up some time ago (because of a few friends of mine on tumblr, I had fallen into the Keetra Deile x Sela Pretore ship). Unfortunetly I haven't found a lot of stories about these two, so that's when I decided to write out stories for them. I may or may not make a second part to this story, but If I do then I'm sure you guys will see it. 
> 
> I had made doodles of this story on my tumblr too. Just little doodles tho.  
> Anyway, on to the story~

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the awards ceremony on Virtupets Station, the newly appointed Private First Class Sela Pretore heads out to ask the Sergeant Keetra Deile a very important question. However an email from one of the Commanders threatens to make Sela’s plans come crashing down. So now the young Xwee has to break out of a soldier’s boundary to show her feelings for her friend. Hopefully it will buy more time for them to stay together…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had wrote this story up some time ago (because of a few friends of mine on tumblr, I had fallen into the Keetra Deile x Sela Pretore ship). Unfortunately I haven't found a lot of stories about these two, so that's when I decided to write out stories for them. I may or may not make a second part to this story, but If I do then I'm sure you guys will see it.
> 
> I had made doodles of this story on my tumblr too. Just little doodles tho.  
> Anyway, on to the story~

“Keetra Deile?”

The young Cybunny stopped in her tracks as she turned her view to the voice that called her. The voice belonged to a young purple Xweetok she knew all too well, who wore a Virtupetss Station uniform that displayed her Private First Class colors right on her shoulders, and her purple and orange spotted utility belt. She had orange hair, orange freckles that dotted just under her eyes and a silver piercing just above her left eyebrow. Keetra saw as the young Xwee gave her a smug grin, but she turned her unamused gaze back to her tablet she held in her hands.

“That’s _Sergeant_ Keetra Deile to you, _Private_.” She replied coolly. She was expecting the young Xwee to apologize like any other lower rank soldier, but instead she saw her gasp and place a hand to her heart as if she had received a physical injury.

“Excuse me! I am _Private First Class_ Sela Pretore! Did you not see me get my new colors at the ceremony today, _Madame_?” she asked with an overly dramatic voice. Keetra looked up at the ceiling as she began to ponder. She wasn’t thinking about whether or not if she was at the ceremony, she was thinking about how she can mess with the young comrade even more.

“Was I? Hm… I don’t know. I may have fallen asleep when they were introducing the new Privates…” she thought out loud as she tapped a finger to her chin. She peeked over slightly to see the young Xweetok with sour look on her face, one that the Cybunny was all too familiar with since the two were children. Keetra couldn’t help but chuckle from the girl’s reaction and she pat her friend on the shoulder reassuringly.

“I’m joking Sisi, I totally saw you get your rank. Congratulations.” Keetra she replied, putting her tablet on sleep mode before putting it back into her bag. “But please remember to call me by my rank when we are working together. We aren’t playing pretend anymore, this is all serious work. _Really_ serious work.” She stressed as she crossed her arms, seeing the purple pet only groan up at the ceiling in response.

“I know! And we have to be professional! Make sure our clothes don’t have any wrinkles! Have our shoes perfectly shined! Yeah yeah- I know Katey. Jeeze, you’re almost sounding a lot like mom now-”

“Which mom?” Keetra asked with a curious glance. “And please don’t tell me Margaret-”

“Definitely mother Margaret.” Sela interrupted as she poked Keetra’s side. Making Keetra roll her eyes before she allowed Sela to continue. “She’s always like- ‘ _I’ve been in the military since I was 13! I had to iron everyone’s shirts in my whole platoon! And live in the moon trenches during the first war with Dr. Sloth- And blah blah blah blah_ ’-”

“Well, she is the Staff Sergeant of Virtupets Station for a reason, Sela. And if you continue to talk about her like that, she might as well make you do laps around the whole station and miss Yooyuball practice.” She chuckled. Now it was Sela’s turn to rolled her eyes and placed her arms behind her head.

“Her? Nah, she can’t do that to me anymore cause she just retired. Still, I don’t even know why Momma Courtney decided to marry that woman, let alone have kids with her.” Sela mumbled. Keetra shrugged her shoulders from Sela’s comment, before she was able to reply back she heard a small **-beep-** come from inside her bag. She casually took out her tablet again and saw that she had received a message from her Commander, Gormos. Keetra opened the message. She had skimmed through it at first, thinking that it was another email talking about a meeting or a schedule change with Yooyuball practice. But this email was different, Keetra had to stop midway through the email and reread it from the top. This message wasn’t talking about yooyuball, nor was it about a meeting either. This email was ordering her to head out on a mission.

Tomorrow morning.

“This can’t be right…” Keetra thought out loud as she skimmed through the message. Her face turned serious as she reread the message for a third time in a row. This couldn’t be right, could it? She had a mission to go out to? Just two weeks before the Altador cup? Did anyone else know about this?

Before Keetra went to read the message for a fourth time, she felt a hand touch her arm, making her look up at Sela.

“Katey? You okay?” The Purple Xwee asked, looking concerned. Keetra slowly nodded, before looking back at her screen tablet once more.

“Yeah just- hold on a moment, Private. I have to see this email.”

“Private _First Class_.” Sela interrupted sternly with a frown. Seeing that her comment only went on deaf ears made Sela only sighed and she absentmindedly began to chew on her inner cheek. She hated when Keetra acted so stern when the two were together, she also hated the fact that she had also forgotten her new rank as well. Sela decided that perhaps she should snoop for answers, so she peeked over Keetra’s shoulder to read the email she just received. She saw that it was a message from one of the Commanders at the station. The email said something about her friend leaving early tomorrow morning to go catch the first ship that would drop her off to some coordinates. Skimming through the letter as quickly as possible, Sela’s eyes caught a glimpse of some of the coordinates. Her look turned from curious to confusion. This didn’t make sense to her either. The coordinates that Keetra received were to head straight to Kreludor, Neopia’s moon. To one of the bases perhaps? But why?

“Sela!” The Xwee jumped as she was greeted by Keetra’s glare. Immediately the Cybunny closed out of her email and slipped her tablet back inside her bag before crossing her arms again. “You know that our emails are private! That means you can’t see any of my emails that I received. Do you understand, _Private_?” she asked in her strict tone. Sela shrugged casually, crossing her hands behind her back as she smiled back.

“Well if they’re Private then that means that a Private First Class can read them. _Right~_?”

Silence.

“….Get it Katey? Because it’s private, and I’m a-” Sela stopped her joke as she saw Keetra’s glare still on her and her stance still stiff. _‘Oh, so she was serious._ ’ Sela thought to herself harshly. She swallowed nervously as she stood up at a full attention.

“Understood, Ma’am. I’m sorry for my actions, Ma’am.” she replied. It hurt her a bit when she saw Keetra’s glare still focused on her. It reminded her of Margaret’s harsh stare whenever she would berate the lower ranks at the station. It almost felt like she was being belittled herself, and Sela had told this to Keetra many times before. So it didn’t take long before Sela saw the Cybunny’s eyes soften in her gaze, and she saw Keetra shake her head before turning her eyes away from her.

“It’s… It’s alright Sisi, _at ease_.” she mumbled.

Sela sighed quietly as she was finally able to relax herself, or at least be allowed in the ‘at east’ position. The two were now standing quietly in the hallway. Keetra with her gaze to the window overlooking space, and Sela stil looking right at her. She knew it wasn’t Keetra’s fault to act so harshly to her, it was her job after all. She can also feel how tense her friend was as well, knowing that she has to go on a mission two weeks prior of the cup. If the mission took too long then she may not even make it into the cup, and being that this was Sela’s first time with her friend in the cup, It made Sela’s chest ache from the very thought of the two of them not being able to be together. It was one of the reasons why Sela tried to sign up for the cup, so the two of them don’t have to spend so much time apart. Whether it’d be Keetra going to the cup, or even training for the cup. The only noise in the atmosphere between them now was just the faint humming of the space station’s generators. Sela couldn’t help but have a lot of things on her mind. She had initially walked up to Keetra because she wanted to ask her something important, but now that plans had changed, Sela had to find a new approach. Fast. She decided to break out of the awkward tension by changing the subject as she shuffled her feet a bit.

“You know… I um… Really do like how Commander Gormos writes his email.” She started. Keetra glanced back at her, ‘ _Really?_ ’ she asked curiously as Sela nodded. “Yeah, he doesn’t seem to make the mission sound too boring… Or make it too long…” She huffed tiredly as she crossed her arms with a grimace now on her face. “ ** _And_** he doesn’t make it seem like his whole _**entire**_ platoon is made only out of Blumaroos.”

“Here we go again.” Keetra chuckled as she awaited Sela’s complaints to continue. She didn’t mind listening to Sela’s complaints about work, or school, or even family drama. To be honest, Keetra was even more curious to see what Sela would complain about during her first year in the Altador Cup. But she could only imagine, can’t she?

“I mean, I understand that Commander Garoo is a great leader and all. But I can’t even understand why I’m the **_ONLY_** Xweetok in his squadron. Look, here’s me, and here’s the other three Blumaroo’s in the squad. He keeps pretending that I’m not even here! And when he does see that I actually tend to exist, he would give me ridiculous training that I can’t even handle and- **Ugh!** I just can’t stand it!” Sela complained as she stomped her foot to the ground. Keetra raised a brow curiously at her. She hasn’t had any trouble with her commander before, but she thought she would at least give Sela a suggestion to help her out.

“Maybe you can request a transfer? I’m sure Commander Gormos wouldn’t mind a new squad mate.”

“Psh, that’s highly unlikely.” Sela noted, biting onto her lower lip before continuing. “Even if Commander Gormos allowed me to join your squad, that would mean that I would have to send the request to Commander Garoo as well. And we both know what his answer is going to be-”

“ _Who’s_ Sela Pretore?” Keetra joked. Sela paused in her speech, smiling a little before she let out a breathless chuckle.

“Okay, so maybe that would be his first answer. His second answer would be a big fat _‘No’_.” She replied. Keetra only hummed back, unsure what else to tell the Xwee. She was at least glad that she gave Sela a suggestion for her to follow by if she ever wanted to. Eventually the silence had come back to plague the two, and they remained quiet for a moment. The humming from the station seeming to be very louder than before, or at least to Keetra it seemed like it. She decided that perhaps this could be her chance to get rid of the awkward tension by simply leaving. She needed to get enough rest for tomorrow’s mission anyhow.

“Well I guess I have to get going-” As Keerta turned to leave, she was stopped as Sela placed both of her arms on either side of her right on the wall, keeping her trapped right in front of her. Keetra looked back down at the Xweetok, for a moment she noticed that her friend looked slightly different. She could see the confidence in Sela’s face when she looked back up at her, and she had a mischievous grin on her face as well. Keetra opened her mouth to ask her what she was doing, but was instead greeted with a kiss planted on her very lips. She was surprised that Sela had kissed her, normally because this was the first time that her friend ever done so. But at the same time Keetra didn’t seem to mind at all…

In fact she even wanted to kiss her back.

Though her face felt burning hot at this point, Keetra decided to return the favor. She closed her eyes and slowly began to kiss Sela back, using her hand to pass through Sela’s long hair. It wasn’t her first time kissing someone, but it was the first time that she had kissed her best friend from childhood. This made her question herself, ‘ _Had she always felt like this to her?’ ‘Or was this one of Sela’s no good jokes_?’. Keetra decided to find out after the two finally broke out for air, she couldn’t help but smile as she saw Sela practically gasping for air, while her face was a slight crimson color.

‘ _No way, this was her very first kiss?_ ’, she thought.

“I wanted to ask you… Do you think… Maybe…” Sela took in a breath of air as she pressed on through her sentence. “Sorry… Just getting air… Okay!” Sela sighed as she stood up straight, her arms right at her sides as she stiffen in place at attention.

“Do you’ll think maybe we can just.. Hang out, before you go?” Sela finally asked her. Keetra raised a brow at her, this moment was getting even more interesting for her.

“You mean… Like a date?” She asked out loud. Seeing the other girls cheeks become even more crimson.

“No! I mean yes! I mean..” Sela swallowed nervously before she replied. “Sure. If that’s what you want to call it. I was hoping we could-”

“Dinner?” Sela blinked in confusion at Keetra’s answer, which made the Sergeant continue. “We could order some flatbread and listen to the new Starset album I got. Sound good?” she continued, seeing Sela’s face light up with a smile.

“Y-yeah! Absolutely!”

“Good, I get out at 1900 hours. I think I can even stay till 2300 hours.” she replied as she planted one more peck to her friend- Or now girlfriend’s- nose. 

“Just remember to get the drinks this time, okay?” she turned around to start walking away, before she stopped and looked over her shoulder.“Oh, Sisi?”

“Yes Ma’am?” Sela asked still at attention, seeing the Cybunny smile at her.

“ _At ease_.”

**[To be continued?]**


	2. Mission Status: Sabotage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just 2 weeks before the Altador Cup, Keetra Deile was sent off to go out on a mission that would take her to a base right on Kreludor’s moon. While she has no idea what the objective was in the beginning, as the mission unfolds, she is then stopped by a familiar face- But with more secrets than she could ever imagine.
> 
> What exactly is going on here?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly didn’t think I would come up with a second part... But I did! And apparently there is going to be a third part uncovering this story too… I kind of outdone myself this time. Anywho, I had a few people curious about what Keetra’s mission would be about… And now this leads to a more thickening plot. 
> 
> Ooou~ Haha, none the less I hope you all enjoy it~! C:

_“Dinner?” Sela blinked in confusion at Keetra’s answer, which made the Sergeant continue. “We could order some flatbreads and listen to the new Starset album I got. Sound good?” she continued, seeing Sela’s face light up with a smile._

_“Y-yeah! Absolutely!”_

_“Good, I get out at 1900 hours. I think I can even stay till 2300 hours.” she replied as she planted one more peck to her friend- Or now girlfriend- right on her nose. “Just remember to get the drinks next time, okay?” she turned around to start walking away, before she stopped and looked over her shoulder._

_“Oh, Sisi?”_

_“Yes Ma’am?” Sela asked still at attention, seeing the Cybunny smile at her._

_“At ease.”_

—-

Keetra broke out of her thought as the turbulence shook the pod she was in, she gasped as the strong force of the pod had made her nearly hit her head on the steel frame interior. She gritted her teeth and pressed two orange buttons simultaneously as a steering wheel popped up from the dashboard and right into her hands. Keetra swerved the wheel to the right to try and make her pod reach at a steady level. As soon as she could finally gain control of the pod, and finally stabilize it, she lean herself to the left of the pod to flip a few switches just above her ears. This allowed her to turn on the telecom that reach to her commander and her other squad mates in the communication tower of Virtupets Station.

“This is Keetra of pod 3402, do you read me?”

“Read you loud and clear Keetra.” A male voice replied on the other line.

“Do you mind telling me why you decided to eject me into space like a piece of useless trash?” She stressed with agitation in her tone, she heard a mix of clutter and mumbles at the other end of the line as the male began to argue with another male voice.

“Hey it’s not my fault! Reggie here didn’t set the coordinates right-”

“You said you were going to set those coordinates yourself-”

“No I didn’t! And it’s your fault!”

“Is not!”

“Is too!”

“Is not-”

“ **Silence**!”

The voice that boomed out from the intercom was so startling that even Keetra jolted in her seat. She could hear the mic that her squad mate held being passed on to someone else from inside the communication room. This time, she can hear a deeper man’s voice present on the intercom.

“Sergeant Keetra Deile?”

“Commander Gormos,” Keerta replied calmly as she steered herself out from a few asteroids and space debris and on route to Kreludor. “I’ve just reached the moon. I’m only 55 kilometers away from the coordinates you’ve just sent me.”

“Excellent. Get to the landing and head inside for further instructions. Remember, you only have hour to get this done.”

“1 hour? I’ll be done and back before the 15 minute mark, sir.” Keetra answered. She could hear the commander chuckle from the intercom.

“That’s what I like to hear soldier, and that’s why I sent you on this mission.” The commander’s words made the Cybunny smile brightly, even though she heard the man clear his throat and his tone was brought back to being stern and serious. “Now, get to the coordinates and finished the job.”

“Yes Sir.” Keetra replied as she flipped the switch to turn off the intercom. As she got off she pressed a button just underneath her steering wheel until a voice exclaimed.

## -Autopilot Engaged-

She waited until she heard a small **-beep-** before she took her hands off the wheel, she turned to her right and began to press a string of numbers in her seat’s number pad. Soon she started to hear the voice exclaim in the pod.

## -System Settings: Offline-  
-Backup Generator Engaged-

“Requesting systems to set timer to 15 minutes.” Keetra asked out loud. She heard a few beeps and a click within the pod before the voice commented.

## -Request Granted: Setting Timer to 15 minutes-

She smiled to herself as the timer started to count down and she felt the pod she was in slowly come to a stop before lowering itself right onto the moon’s surface. Just as the pod came to a halt, the Cybunny pressed a button on her space suit to give her a helmet. She messed on the dial to dim her helmet to a dark blueish hue, before she pulled open a latch to allow herself out of the pod. She could be able to breath on Kreludor’s surface, but she didn’t want anyone to know who she was while on this mission. Whatever the mission was exactly.

She could feel in her gut that she had a bad feeling about this mission. But she shook her head. She had a mission to fulfill, and she vowed to have it done.

Because the atmosphere was thin and the gravity was so light, Keetra did a few hops and a slide towards one of the open gates to gain momentum. She could see that the gate would allow cargo ships to enter inside the large garage just inside the base. While she was slowly gaining momentum, she could see a cargo ship making its way to the gate. She was getting faster and reaching up to the ship at this point, and as soon as the ship made it past through the gate- so did she.

She skidded as soon as she got into the garage when the gravity began to kick in, because of the change of gravity and air pressure, the Cybunny came to a complete stop. Keetra used this time to quickly run behind one of the closest ships and look around to get a better view of her surroundings. Seeing that only a few people were in the garage, she thought to herself that these people were possibly just the mechanics and the pilots of the ships. Keetra nodded to herself and pressed a button just on the right of her helmet.

“I’m in Commander.”

“Good.  Now, I’m gonna give you a list of commands and you’ll have to do everything just as I say. Are we clear?”

“Loud and clear, Sir!” Keetra responded.

“Right now, go down through the hallway on your right and listen for my directions.” Commander Gormos explained. Keetra nodded as she began to sneak past some of the mechanical doors and followed her commanders directions. “Take 15 steps to the first door you see, good. Now turn left. There should be a glass panel there, enter the code 5798 and walk down to the third door you see.”

“Are there any camera’s watching me now?” Keetra asked, following his instructions as she began to press down the code, making the glass doors in front of her to open up. “You know, besides you guys back at the tower?”

“No. We hacked into the systems to follow your every move. Of course this is why we are on a tight schedule, if it exceeds more than an hour then the General in charge of the Kreludor base will be suspicious of the activity.”

“Well you don’t have to worry, I have another 13 minutes before he can suspect anything. Where next?”

“Make a right and now head into the door that reads ‘ _Personnel only_ ’- Shoot.”

“Everything alright sir?” Keetra asked, holding her step for a moment before she heard the man reply back.

“No, Dr.Sloth is requesting to see me… Again. Ugh, Reggie take over for me. And Sergeant.”

“Yes Sir?”

“Be out as soon as you can.” Commander Gormos replied, before signing out. Keetra let out a heavy sigh as she began to talk to herself quietly.

“It’s okay Keetra, you got this…” She walked through the doors as instructed to see herself in a room full of computers and gadgets. The technology seemed almost too familiar with her, but she didn’t have time to think to herself now. She had a mission to finish. “Reggie, what now?”

“Okay, so you need to head to the computer hooked up to that giant tower there, and get on it. You can use the access code-”

“I know, I know. **Y011999** ” Keetra remarked, typing in the code into the computer as she said the code out loud. The computer turned on with a small whirring sound and a hiss, she could see the screen be read in HTML codes and she groaned. “Great… Coding. My worst nightmare…”

“Type in _backslash backslash Richtxt period backslash backslash_ , and it should help you set the commands much more easier.” Reggie replied on the other line. Keetra blinked in confusion as she typed in the code as specified, now the computer screen showed a case of simple words and phrases that she could easily recognized.

“Thanks Reggie, where were you during coding class?” she joked.

“Honestly? Sleeping. But back to the mission at hand… I need you to enter these commands…. Ready?”

“Ready when you are,” Keetra answered, bringing up her hands onto the keyboard to await further commands.

“Okay so I need you to type out…. _1 period shut down initiated… 2 period reboot set offline… 3 period goals off calibrated settings… 4_ -”

“‘ _Goals off calibrated settings_ ’?” Keetra asked in confusion.

“Yes. Now… _4 period gravity set to negative thirty… 5 period crowd control set to maximum three hundred thousand_ -”

“This feels so…” Keetra stopped herself as she bit her lower lip. ‘ _This is wrong, this is seriously wrong_.’ she thought to herself harshly before she shook her head. She knew what this was about now, and she felt her gut twist from anxiousness. But this was an order, she didn’t know why, but she didn’t plan to ask why right now “Nevermind, continue Reggie.”

“Just a few more now… Okay _6 period noise generator set to volume zero_ … _7 period darigan yooyuball ratio set to eight colon one… 8 period field gravel to muddy… 9 period team versus mode set to all Werelupes_ -”

“Isn’t that a little too much?” Keetra asked. She heard Reggie talking to three of her other squad mates, arguing about some coding nonsense before she heard him come back online.

“Okay so we can change it to ‘ _9 period team versus mode set to all Jelly Chias_ ’. Last one… _10 period win to lose ratio is ten colon negative twenty-_ ”

“Reggie!”

“Okay okay- ‘ _ten colon one_ ’. Sheesh! Now when you’re done, hold on to the shift key and press enter before typing in _backslash backslash restart-_ with a capital _‘r’_ - _backslash backslash_. When you’re done, then you can press ‘ _enter_ ’. Got it?”

“Almost there….” Keetra drawled as she typed in the last of the coding, as soon as she finished the sentence she pressed enter and the computed shut off. She continued to lean forward to the screen, and soon the computer restarted and kicked back to the screen to put in the password.

“Good! The systems have kick back on! Now you can head on back.”

“Finally.” Keetra mumbled to herself with a sigh. As she tried to stand up straight, she felt something placed on the back of her head and she swore to herself.

“Well well well… What have we here?” 

Keetra swallowed nervously as she slowly glanced up to the glass of the computer screen. Just behind her she could see a familiar purple Gnorbu with curly orange hair stand just behind her. She was a head taller than herself, and she wore the military colors from the Kreludor military. The woman had a blaster aimed right at her head, and although the woman would show an expressionless face on the field, this time her lips were curved into a big smile and her eyes looked excited and… Dangerous.

‘ _Derlyn Fonnet? What’s she doing here?’_ Keetra thought as she tried to calm herself down by taking in deep slow breaths. The woman cocked a brow at her, still unaware that she was watching her from the reflection on the computer screen.

“You know, the sign on the door read ‘ _Personnel only_ ’. Now either you are really lost ,or really stupid to not know that.” Derlyn replied, before tilting her head. “Now… Hands up and face forward, soldier.” she commanded. Keetra nodded, holding up both of her hands before turning around to face the Gnorbu herself.

“Sergeant! Are you alright? What’s going on over there?” Reggie asked out loud through the intercom. Keetra remained silent as she continued to watch the other woman’s every move. Keetra couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw that the woman in front of her bore the colors of the First Lieutenant rank. This woman was higher than herself, and she never knew about it? She swore to herself as she figured that Derlyn had actually heard the intercom from her helmet, the other woman raised a brow at her.

“‘ _Sergeant_ ’, huh? I was a Sergeant too, once,” Derlyn replied as she slowly stepped forward to the Cybunny. Keetra slowly took a step back, trying to keep more distance from the two of them, but she stopped when he back hit the desk with the computer. “So… Why is a Sergeant of Virtupets Station breaking up the coding for our Yooyuball training grounds, hm?” She asked. Keetra said no reply and Derlyn frowned as she placed the blaster’s barrel under her chin, making the Cybunny swallow hard. “Come on, you think being quiet is going to help you out now?” she sneered. Keetra’s eyes looked desperately for an opening of some kind to get her out of this predicament before the other female decides to take off her helmet.

Then, she found one.

Keetra used a hand to hit the inside of Derlyn’s arm to give herself more space. As soon as she saw the Gnorbu’s blaster was away from her face, she picked up her leg to give her a quick kick to the side. But Derlyn grabbed onto her leg and with force, used a flat hand to hit her square in the chest armor, making her stumble back in her footing. Keetra gasped and barely had the time to balance her footing as she saw Derlyn side step towards her with incredible speed. Keetra put up her arms, thinking that Derlyn would try to take off her helmet, but instead Derlyn used this opportunity to use her foot to hit her on the stomach and slam her onto the floor below. Keetra gasped as the wind was nearly knocked out of her from the woman’s kick, she could hear the timer countdown in her helmet.

## -Estimated Time Remaining: 5 Minutes and 49 Seconds-

“Well, I give you credit for trying to take me on. That was brave of you.” Derlyn chuckled as she moved her foot towards her’s chest armor, adding more weight on the Cybunny’s chest. Keetra was completely fine because the damage was only on her suit, but she was becoming even more anxious when she heard her suit crack and crackle just under the woman’s foot. Keetra was in a daze of confusion and fear as she continued to stare back at the woman. Never in her time during the Altador Cup has she seen Derlyn move as fast as she did now. 

And… By Sloth her strength. 

Her strength almost matched as close to Weldar Xupenfarb, and he was a mutant Grundo! Derlyn just seemed to be an average purple Gnorbu, how does she have the speed and strength to get her down in a matter of seconds?

Keetra gritted her teeth as she squirmed and struggled to push off the woman’s foot, but it was to no avail as she remained trapped under her weight. Derlyn kept a smile on her face as she even managed to put even more weight on her foot, making the Cybunny’s suit crackle ever so loud from the pressure, as she leaned close to her.

“Now, if you won’t tell me who you are then I might as well find out for myself.” Derlyn remarked, she took her hand and grabbed Keetra’s helmet from the space right under her chin. Keetra closed her eyes tightly, she didn’t want to see Derlyn’s expression when she discovers who she is.

Just as she awaited for  the reveal to happen, an intercom call came in.

“Derlyn.”

Keetra opened her eyes as she saw Derlyn frozen in her place. The smile on the Gnorbu’s face slowly disappeared and she turned back to her expressionless exterior. While her hand still gripped Keetra’s helmet, she used her free hand to press a button just on her suit’s collar to answer the call which seemed to have come from her intercom.

“Yes sir?”

“Where are you?” Keetra raised a confused brow as she heard the voice. It certainly belonged to an older male, and the way he asked the question was almost in a sing song tone. As if he was talking to the woman like a small child. She saw Derlyn clench her jaw as she put more weight on her chest, making Keetra grunt from the added pressure that now began to almost crush her inside of her own suit.

“Busy-”

“’ _Busy_ ’? You weren’t certainly busy this morning when you said that you wanted to train with me-”

“Now’s not the time Fath-” Derlyn stopped herself as she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, before letting it out in a forced chuckle. “Look… I caught someone here that has screwed up the Yooyuball simulators and I’m trying to see who they are-”

“Oh my, that sounds awful! Was it a fan?”

“I can’t say, all I know is that they are from Virtupets Station.” Derlyn hissed as she opened her eyes to stare at the Cybunny under her. Both Keetra and Derlyn heard nothing from the intercom for a solid 5 seconds before the voice spoke up again.

“Let them go.”

“But Dad-”

“That’s an order… Sweetie.” Derlyn glared at the Cybunny for a moment before she let go of her helmet, and she stood straight up, but her foot was still planted on her chest plate. “Pumpkin, let the little crook go and come straight to my office. **Now**.” the voice ordered before going offline. Keetra remained still on the floor as Derlyn continued to glare at her.

Eventually Derlyn got her foot off of the Cybunny, but pointed her blaster at her.

“You got 10 seconds. 10… 9…”

Keetra rolled onto her side and dashed her way through the doors and down to the hall. Even though her suit felt like it was still being crushed by an incredible amount of weight, she still continued to run through the hall and eventually find her way to the garage where she had first entered. She ran out from the opening gate, despite a few other bystanders seeing her leave the garage, and she began to run and hop through the light atmosphere until she reached her pod.

She jumped in, closed the latch and then typed quickly a string of numbers into her number pad.

## -Autopilot Off-  
-Thrusters At Full Power-  
-Commencing Lift Off-

She felt the pod jump into life and she grabbed at the steering wheel to make the pod lift off of the ground at full speed. As soon as the pod had gotten past the few asteroids and space debris near Kreludor and Virtupets Station was in full view, Keetra pressed a blue button on the center of the pod. The pod click and hissed and Keetra used this time to take off her helmet, she took in a breath as she found sweat beading her face. Her breathing was heavy, but she shook her head to clear her thoughts. This was the most outrageous mission she has ever been on.

As soon as she composed herself she called out.

“Pause timer.” She pressed some more numbers in her pad to hear the pod call out.

## -Timer Setting Paused To 2 Minutes And 14 Seconds-  
-System Settings: Online-  
-Turning On Communication Com-

“Keetra! Are you alright?” Reggie asked, his voice was panicked and Keetra could hear her other squad mates in the background chattering and mumbling to one another at the tower.

“I’m fine Reggie just… Bumped into someone from the Cup…” Keetra sighed, a hand rubbing the back of her neck anxiously, feeling some of the sweat gathered there. She let out a chuckle as she continued. “You know, fans? They were trying to get my autograph and such.”

“Well, as long as you’re okay- We thought something was up because we lost video footage of you. Right when you were done with the coding.”

“Really? Odd… Well, no matter. I got it done with 2 minutes left to spare, so you can tell that to Commander Gormos when you see him.” Keetra replied with a smile. But soon her smile turn into a frown when she heard her suit reply.

## -Suit Defense Damage At 65%-

“Keetra? Is that… Your suit?” Reggie asked.

“Yeah, I may have accidentally got hit by some space junk when I was about to head back into my pod. Those things come out of nowhere.”

“So other than getting hit by space junk… You’re fine. Right?”

“Psh, Of course!” Keetra chuckled, she looked out of her pod to see the entrance way to one of the garages before she added. “I’m about to dock right now, so I’ll talk to you later when I have the chance.”

“Sure thing! Congratulations on achieving the mission too. Over and out!” Reggie replied. Keetra turned off the switch of the intercom as she slowly landed her pod in an available spot just inside the garage. She pressed down two orange buttons simultaneously as the steering wheel collapsed back into the dashboard and the pod began to shut down it’s power. Keetra opened the hatch of the pod and climbed out, she stretched as soon as she got out before hearing a voice.

“Sergeant Keetra Deile.”

**[To be continued?]**


	3. A Satisfying Reward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After finishing her mission earlier than intended, Keetra Deile looks over the damage that has been done with her last encounter with the Lieutenant of Kreludor, Derlyn Fonnet.
> 
> In retro-spec, Derlyn Fonnet overlooks the damage that the 'anonymous' soldier has done onto her Yooyuball simulator grounds and also her own patience with the Major General of Kreludor's army, just after she has been ordered to release them back to Virtupets Station.
> 
> Both soldiers encounter different perspective over the situation that has happened at hand. In the end, the two both experience the same, yet different, finished of their night. 
> 
> A satisfying reward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another part of' Breaking out of a soldier’s boundary' because I have been wanting to make a new part for weeks. Due to me being busy, it makes it kind of hard- and this piece seems to be on the short side too. 
> 
> But that didn't stop me from making a new part regardless. I even have a 4th part that I am making that I shall put it up when I am done (Shhhh thats a secret tho). 
> 
> So here is the new and awaiting chapter~!

_“Sergeant Keetra Deile.”_

Keetra stopped in her place and turned to who had called over to her. Her eyes widen as she saw not only Commander Gormos there, but he was accompanied by Dr. Sloth himself. Keetra quickly stood up straight and put her feet together just before saluting to the two.

“Commander Gormos, Sir! Dr. Sloth, Sir!”

“At ease, soldier. At ease.” Dr. Sloth replied with a slight wave of his hand and a chuckle. Keetra nodded and stood at ease as the Doctor stood before her. “I heard from Commander Gormos that you said you were to finished your mission 45 minutes sooner than expected. I had the two of us come down and wait for you in the garage to see this for myself.” He smiled as he clasped his hands together. “And now… Not only did you finished your mission, but you done so with 2 more minutes left to spare! I’m really impressed.”

“Thank you Doctor, Sir!” Keetra replied. Dr. Sloth nodded to her before turning to the Kougra next to him.

“Thank you for waiting with me to see this remarkable soldier you have Commander Gormos. I expect you to be in my office in the next 15 minutes,” He also turned his gaze back to Keetra. “Consider yourself to have the rest of the day off, Soldier. As a reward for your valiant efforts! And… Do get yourself some new armor.” he noted before turning his back and waving his hand to them effortlessly. “That will be all.”

“Yes Dr. Sloth Sir!” Keetra and Commander Gormos replied simultaneously. The two waited for the doctor to leave before Keetra looked up at her superior.

“Sir?” Keetra asked, having the kougra look down at her before she spoke up again. “Did… He really mean what he said?”

“Indeed.” He said as he patted her shoulder, “Enjoy your day off… And please consider getting your armor fixed. You can see right through it.” he stated before walking out of the garage to follow their leader. Keetra waited for the male to leave before she made her leave to the locker rooms just on the other side of the garage. She headed for her locker and punched in her password to open it. Just before she decided to change out of her armor, she decided to look at herself in the mirror that hung on her locker door. When she saw the damage her eyes widen in shock.

Her commander was right.

She could see the cracks were so large on her suit that people could see her body suit just underneath it. Not only that, but her armor also had a large dent on it that showed exactly where the female Gnorbu had stepped. Keetra couldn’t help but be surprised, scared, and even intrigued by the fact that Derlyn Fonnet was strong enough to crush her armor just by using the weight on her foot to pin her down. Keetra could still see Derlyn’s smug face when she encountered her, when she had also placed the blaster just under her own chin and go as far as to threaten her in such a mocking tone...

Keetra shook her head as she felt a shiver climb over her spine, she took in a breath to calm her down before beginning to take off her armor. She could get a new one, but she also decided that she could save some extra neopoints for herself if she can find someone that could fix her armor instead.

A smile grew on her face as she thought of the perfect person in mind for the job.

* * *

 

“I can’t believe you made me do that!” Derlyn shouted to the back of the older male before her. The space between the two were just a mere 12 feet and the man was looking out of the window that overlooked space to the view of Neopia, but the young woman couldn’t care less. She felt anger seethe throughout her inner core from her head to her feet as if she’s being baptized by an invisible fire. “I literally had them right in my hand, and you just had to order me to let them go-”

“If you were that upset, then why did you listen to me?” the man teased, despite his back still turned to her. Derlyn couldn’t help but grit her teeth at him, her hands tightening into fists.

“Because it’s illegal to go against your orders.” She hissed between her teeth. Despite her words almost feeling like poison dripping from her mouth, she can hear the older male chuckle before her.

“I was just joking my dear. But I really did needed you to stand down from the task at hand-”

“Even though they deliberately messed up the calibration and systems on the Yooyuball simulators-”

“Yes.” The man interrupted, turning around this time to face the young soldier. He was a fairly tall shadow Gnorbu, two heads taller than Derlyn herself, and he had short orange hair that was slicked back in a professional style. He wore a black dress shirt with suspenders and a black jacket over his shoulders, and he wore black shades that completely covered his eyes. Derlyn stopped in her sentence and stood up straighter as the man’s tone turned from mocking to serious within a matter of seconds. She hated when he does that out of the blue, and it didn’t help that he continued to still smile at her despite his stern tone. Of course this still didn’t stop her from radiating anger to him and pushing further.

“So not only is training canceled for- Foyra knows how long- But now I have to go on a mission. Right?”

“You, and Lieutenant Qlydae Wegg actually. I need the both of you to be ready in two days so we can head out-”

“Look. I like going out on missions as much as Qlydae does. But we really need to prepare for-”

“Let me finish, Pumpkin.” Derlyn clenched her jaw tightly, but slowly she began to show off her expressionless facade to help calm herself down a little while he continued. The man looked out onto the sight of Neopia once more. “I have told you that we were picking up some suspicious activity with Virtupets Station, correct?”

“Yes sir.”

“This morning when you caught the crook we have gotten some interference from the communication towers there. I happened to butt in because we were picking up their signals and seeing what was entirely going on.”

“And?” Derlyn stressed. Seeing her father look back at her, a smile still on his face as his tone began to cool down from his ' _stern_ ' exterior to his ' _casual_ ' self.

“And right when I told you to let them go, we’ve gotten their signal and location. Which is your two’s mission. We suspect that Dr. Sloth is preparing for something we aren’t prepared for and I need every soldier’s help keeping our base and the civilians safe. You do understand, right Sweetie?” he asked.

Derlyn couldn’t help but sigh softly, staring down at the floor as she pondered on the though. She new that as a Kreludor soldier, it wasn’t only just fighting against evil Fuzzles in space or capturing smugglers running away with loads and loads of Kreludorite. It was her job as a soldier to protect Kreludor and the people within it, not matter how it’s done. It seems hard for people to even see it through her expressionless exterior, but she was actually a sensitive type that deeply cared for others.

Especially those who can’t defend for themselves.

“I understand.” Derlyn replied. She took in another breath as she looked back at the older man. “This… Will be hard for my team to know that we can’t attend the Altador Cup this year. But they will understand that it’s because we are putting our people first.” she added. The man nodded as he patted her shoulder reassuringly.

“It is hard my dear, but consider this the reason why you are their leader Derlyn. You know when to make the right calls, for the sake of your team and your people. I think, your fans here in Kreludor would really appreciate your efforts fighting for them and their family.” Derlyn nodded as well, just before her father took his hand off her shoulder and walked casually to his desk, sitting down on the chair. “You and Qlydae will go into the facility and head into the tower to plant a bug inside their tech before coming straight back.”

“Will we be sneaking in?” Derlyn asked, seeing the man shake his head.

“Goodness no! I will have the two of you head to the front like civilized beings that we are.” he chuckled as he pulled out his tablet to overlook some data he had on file. “You two will go in to do some ' _safety inspections_ ' on their technology and that’s how you’ll tap the bugs to their lines. Before you ask, no they won’t suspect a thing because in two days that’ll be when they have their yearly inspections. Oh, and I’ll provide you with some uniform to fit the part. I already know that Qlydae still has his old inspection uniform from when he was just only a Private, and it should still fit him to this day. Any questions?”

“Just one, what if we are being escorted? Could we have permission to devise a distraction?” Derlyn asked. She knew that Virtuepet Soldiers weren’t stupid at all. They would surely have someone there to make sure they are overlooking their jobs and doing it right. If there was a way for her to cause a distraction to take the onlooker off guard, then it was the best shot she and her partner gets.

“Of course, of course! Just… Be polite. I don’t want you fired on the first day of your job as a safety inspector!” he said as he placed the tablet down on the desk, before clasping his hands together and placing then on the table casually as well. “Other than that… You are free to go! I will see you just before dinner.”

“Yes sir.” Derlyn replied as she walked towards the door on the farthest end of the room. As the door opened to her, she turned around to face her father once more, but this time with a cheeky smile. “Regardless of what you say, I’m still getting pizza for dinner cause I’m in charge of dinner duty tonight.” She couldn’t help but love the fact that she can tease her father back. Especially when she knows that his guard is finally down around her. She could see the Major General frown slightly, grabbing the tablet from his desk to look at it once more before letting out an aggravated sigh and a small shrug.

“Fine fine, but only if you get ice cream along with that pizza. And it has to be chocolate.”

"Deal."


	4. Payment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Right after Keetra Deile successfully completed her mission for her commander and leader, she goes to find a very good expert that might help fix her broken armor. No matter how many times she goes to this specialist, she is always surprised by how much excitement goes on at this specialist’s own home. 
> 
> One day, she might even be a part of this interesting chaotic household.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! Here is the long awaited part 4 of Breaking out of a Soldiers Boundary! I know it takes me a million years top put up new chapters/parts but I think they are well worth it! 
> 
> Also if I'm correct, there may be 1-3 more parts to this story before the very end!  
> Yup! We are almost at the end of our story! It's only a matter of time. 
> 
> Until then, I hope you all will enjoy chapter 4!

**Day 15 of the Month of Hunting, Year 9.**  
**14:30**

* * *

 

Keetra began to pull on the handle of the large rolling crate just behind her while she walked along the empty hallways of the west wing living quarters. She wore only her uniform at this time- not that she wouldn’t mind wearing her armor out in public- but she didn’t want to show off the very large crack and dent that was visible on her armor. In her opinion it made her look inexperienced, and possibly foolish if she were to wear it outside while it was not repaired. It was bad enough that she had it on while she was out in space anyway.

The young Cybunny walked down the hall and stopped where the numbers of **1435** were shown right on a door. Keetra didn’t know why she felt a swirl of anxiety right in her stomach as she walked up to the door, feeling like it had began to twist itself into a giant knot while her chest felt like it was beginning to tighten up. She shook her head and decided to take in a large breath before knocking on the door, regardless of what she felt.

As she waited, she could hear a commotion of yelling, squealing and even loud crying coming from the other side. The Cybunny blinked in confusion as she shifted the weight in her footing anxiously, feeling quite awkward that she had perhaps come by at a terrible time. Sure she needed her armor to be fixed by this person she had in mind, but she didn’t want to… Interrupt whatever was going on in the other side.

While Keetra was beginning to think about walking out, the door opened at the very last minute. There at the doorway stood a young Purple Xweetok with long orange hair. Keetra couldn’t help but raise a brow as she saw various of questionable stains and splatters all over the Xwee’s cheeks and especially her Virtupets Station Uniform. Judging by the colors of the stains and the smell, she could tell that it was actually baby food. Though Keetra couldn’t help but smile as the other girl’s eyes widen once she had seen who knocked on her door. The girl tried to stand up straighter and even tried to straighten out her shirt while she was in her presence.

“Keetra! Hey, I didn’t think you’d be coming by.” She replied, she opened her arms to give Keetra a hug but stopped midway as soon as she realized she was covered in the food splatter. “Oh oh, wait! I don’t want to ruin your uniform now.” She chuckled nervously, moving a strand of hair away from her face as she leaned her shoulder against the door’s entrance. “So um… What’s up? What’s going on?”

“Nothing much Sisi.” The Cybunny chuckled as she pointed over to her large rolling crate behind her. “I just wanted to see if you have a quick second to help me with some of your remarkable talent.” Keetra remarked. She could see Sela’s face brighten up instantly and she knew it was because she said the words ‘your remarkable talent’. She was glad to know that trick would always work whenever she needed help with armor trouble.

“Yeah sure! Absolutely! Come on in!” Sela replied, moving aside to allow Keetra and her crate through the automatic doors. As Keetra walked in, she was greeted with the sight of the floor littered with various of children toys, mostly toys for children around the age of 3 and under. The furniture in the living room also seemed to be covered with blankets, children’s books and even clean diapers too ( _one Dr.Sloth plushie even sported a clean diaper as well)_. Despite the disarray of the floor and furniture, the walls of the place seemed much more cleaner. Even as it was being covered with only different photos of various family members and medals from the Virtupets Station Military.

“I’m sorry about the mess. Again.” Sela replied as she got behind her. Using a baby wipe to clean off some of the baby food stains on her uniform and cheek “I was helping mom with the twin’s feeding, and Rachel has been trying to do her own diaper changes to get ready for baby number 5.”

“That’s fine, Sisi.” Keetra remarked with a chuckle. The Cybunny understood what it felt like to be stuck in a household with many siblings, but she was just surprised that Sela was the eldest child in her family. Keetra herself was the 3rd oldest out of 8 children, but again, Sela was the older child out of 3 little girls ( _well soon 4, from what she was told by Sela’s mother Courtney, the last time she had visited_ ). Keetra shrugged casually as she glanced at her, “Should we head to your room or…”

“Oh no, we can head to the repair room. Just give me a second.” Sela replied, turning her back to the Cybunny to call out to her mother. Keetra could hear Sela tell the woman that she was to be in the repair room with a guest. As soon as Keetra heard the mother reply back with a _‘Just don’t fry yourself_ ’ comment she saw Sela turned back to her, grabbing both her hand and the handle of the large crate before pulling them across the war zone living room. Sela guided them to another door on the far side of the room, which lead to an even bigger room in the household.

This room was much more different than the other previous rooms that were just littered with children’s toys, diapers and family portraits. This room was kept fairly clean, with a very long table, a few steel chairs, and several large boxes on shelves filled with both new and old spare parts. There were even large machinery hanging just above the long table that could be useful to fix up space shuttles or other various tech. While retrieving such remarkable machines weren’t uncommon on Virtupets Station, it was quite rare for her to see a machine that bare the Virtupets Military seal. Normally this meant that the machine was used only for the purpose of the Virtupets military. Which made sense to Keetra, considering that one of Sela’s mothers were in fact the retired Staff Sergeant of Virtupets Station.

“Wow…” Keetra trailed as she walked into the makeshift garage. She took her time to lightly brush her hand on the large machine just above her head before looking over to Sela. Seeing the orange hair Xwee close the door behind them before lifting the crate to place it right on the long table. “Everytime I come in here I still can’t help but be amazed by your mom’s fabricating machine.”

“That’s cool of you to say that, Katey. I mean it’s an old model ‘cause mother Margaret got it like… As a wedding gift I think? But it works like a hundred times better than any new fabricator machine out there.” Sela remarked. Keetra sat herself on the chair close to the crate as she saw her girlfriend begin to open up the crate and begin her work. She saw as Sela pulled out the chest portion of the armor. Her expression was a combination of shock and curiosity as she placed the chest piece on the table and began her personal inspection. She pulled opened the zipper to her utility belt and took out a pair of gloves and a small laser pen. She hurriedly put on her gloves just before she began to use the pen in her hand to start probing the very large crack.

Keetra watched on as Sela began to use her pen to begin carefully cut some of the protruding metal into smaller pieces to set aside. Keetra knew that this was so she can see the whole damage done on her suit, so she didn’t seemed worried that she was taking it apart. Once that was done, Sela placed the pen aside and then began to use her hands to spread apart the crack on the suit. Within a matter of moments, Sela nodded to herself before standing up straight to dig into one of the ‘spare parts’ boxes in one of the shelves close to her.

“Well, your armor has one of the biggest cracks I’ve ever seen. But the dent really isn’t an issue though. I can push that sucker out no problem as soon as I fix the crack.” Sela noted. She pulled out a small two pronged instrument and pulled up a chair to sit down onto it. Just as she sat down, Sela twisted the end of the two pronged instrument, making it come to life as it began to spark and sizzle right at the tip where the two prongs were. Sela used a free hand to hold onto the armor in place as she began to press the two prongs right into the large crack. Almost instantly the crack on the armor began to slowly close up as the metal pieces began to slowly become more flexible and soon fuse into each other to cover up the crack slowly. Sela would stop in the middle of her work at times to pick up a small metal piece she had just cut off earlier from the suit to push it back into the armor once more, just before using the prongs to melt it back into it’s original place.

To any robotic pet on Virtupets Station or Kreludor, the job can only take a matter of seconds before the suit can be fixed. Even though Sela’s job would take a bit longer, Keetra knew that Sela would put a lot more time and effort to ensure that her suit would be fixed at 100% as if it was brand new. Sometimes Sela would have Keetra do activity in her suit just to ensure that she had fixed it correctly. Sela puts a lot of dedication and concentration into her work, so it was actually a surprise to Keetra when she heard Sela talk to her.

“So what happened to your suit?” Keetra blinked out of her daze as she quickly glanced up at Sela. She couldn’t help but hold in a breath. She has no authority to tell Sela what happened on her mission, on Virtupets it was the law that the average soldier waits at least 6 months until they can even discuss their missions outside of work. On the other hand, Keetra didn’t want to leave her girlfriend in the dark before getting mad at her. So Keetra decided to pull out the same exact lie she had told to her comrade earlier that day. At least to fill in the void of their conversation.

“Nothing really. I was out on my mission and got hit by some space debris. It nearly knocked me out.” Keetra replied. Sela replied with a simply _‘Hm’_ as she continued to work on the armor, while Keetra continued to look over her shoulder to watch in anticipation. It wasn’t until another 5 minutes before the crack was finally sealed. Sela twisted the instrument in her hand to turn it off before placing it on the side. She sighed deeply as she stretched in her spot, from rolling her arms back to stretching her neck from side to side, before she turned back at the Cybunny.

“Well… That totally stinks.” she added with a chuckle. Keetra raised a brow to her again, but giggled from her comment nonetheless. “Come on Katey, I thought you would be able to dodge some space junk.”

“Not when it’s hurling towards you like a speeding comet.” she stated as she nudge Sela’s arm lightly. “But seriously Sisi, thank you for fixing up my armor.”

“No problem. I always have time to fix things. It’s in my blood you know.” Sela replied, she began to dig into her utility belt for a second before finally pulling out a wrench. She quickly stuffed the wrench inside the chest piece, using her other hand to hold tightly onto the armor before starting to tap the inside to push out the dent. It only took a matter of seconds until the dent let out a deep -thunk- sound as the armor popped back into it’s normal shape. Sela smiled at her handiwork and pulled out the wrench from inside of the armor, before handing it over to Keetra next to her.

“Here, put it on.”

Keetra nodded, she slipped the chest armor over her head, as soon as she was able to fit herself into place, she touched the area where the crack and dent had been. The dent felt like as if it wasn’t there at all, and the area where the crack had been showed only a barely visible mark in it’s place. But it was nothing that a little paint can solve on Keetra’s end.

“It feels good as new! And It doesn’t feel like someone’s crushing my lungs either.” she noted. Keetra pressed a button just on the collar of her suit so she can hear the armour’s reading. This was the ultimate test to see if Sela’s handiwork was worth the visit…

## -Suit Defence Damage At 0%-  
-Suit Energy at 99%-

“Not bad. Not bad at all.” Keetra mused, slipping the armor off of her and placing it gently back into the crate before sitting back down on the chair.“You really are a lifesaver, Sisi-”

“Ah ah, we aren’t done here. I didn’t get my payment you know.” The Xwee interrupted, making the other girl blink at her in puzzlement.

“Wait. ‘ _Payment_ ’? I thought I was your girlfriend-”

“I know, and as your girlfriend you should definitely pay me for fixing your armor every single time you come back from a mission.” Sela noted, leaning forward with a hand under her chin as she rested her elbow on her leg. Keetra rolled her eyes with a sigh. She never expected Sela to bring up the subject of payment, so she was completely caught off guard.

“Fine, fine.” Keetra replied as she went to dig into her bag to pull out her tablet. Before Keetra was able to however, she felt Sela grab her by the wrist to pull her close. As she leaned forward Sela used this time to get close herself and plant a kiss on her lips. Keetra couldn’t believe that this was her second time getting caught off guard, let alone the second time that she was given a surprise kiss from Sela. Keetra of course took the time to close her eyes slowly as she melted herself into the kiss.

Keetra felt Sela place a hand on her shoulder to guide her more into a steady kiss, so she used a and to grab at Sela’s neck to bring her close as well. Keetra’s mind began to spin slightly while she felt their tongues brush against each other’s, and the warmth of her girlfriend’s skin right on her touch. Keetra couldn’t help but just be enveloped in the wonderful feeling, she didn’t even want to let Sela go. The two stopped momentarily to catch their breath, Keetra noticed that Sela had her arms around her waist, while she had her arms just over her shoulders.

“So this… was payment I take it?” Keetra asked with a breathless chuckle. Sela smiled as she looked into Keetra’s eyes, slight crimson slowly appearing on her cheeks.

“Yeah, at least just a kiss or two would be nice.” Sela replied in a hushed whisper. Keetra smiled and nuzzled her girlfriend’s forehead with her own.

“Well… I can settle with that.” She replied softly. She couldn’t help but stare back into Sela’s eyes. The colors of her eyes reminded her of the sunsets back in Altador, it was a calm and serene color. If she had the permission to, she would continue to stare into Sela’s eyes forever. Of course forever wasn’t an actual time set, especially not in Sela’s household.

“Aw, how sweet.” Sela and Keetra broke out of their gazes and at the same time accidentally bumped their heads together. Both of them groaned in pain, Keetra rubbed her forehead slightly before turning her gaze at the door. There at the open doorway stood a female Royalgirl Shoyru. The woman seemed older than Keetra and also two heads taller than her as well. She seemed to wear an old Virtupets Station uniform and also the golden Royalgirl Shoyru crown as well, while she leaned her shoulder casually on the doorway. Meanwhile a small purple Shoyru with orange freckles and auburn hair peeked from behind the woman’s leg, clutching onto a small Dr.Sloth plushie wearing a baby diaper. Keetra swallowed nervously as she immediately stood up from her chair and she saluted to the woman.

“Staff Sergeant! Ma’am!-”

“Retired, Staff Sergeant.” Sela groaned as she held a hand to her forehead. The woman, once known as Staff Sergeant Margaret Pretore, chuckled as she waved her hand lightly.

“Retired or not, I’m very pleased that she’s well respected Sela dear.” She stated before nodding to Keetra. “At ease Ms. Deile.”. Keetra nodded and relaxed herself into the at ease position, before hearing Sela groan again.

“Mom! She doesn’t have to salute you know! At least not when she’s at our house.” She sighed as she crossed her arms together, looking back at the taller woman. “And before you ask, yes I asked-”

“I didn’t come in here to interrupt your… makeout session.” Margaret replied. Even though Keetra chuckled nervously with a blush tint on her face, Sela only rolled her eyes before replying ‘ _So why did you come in then_?’ before the woman glanced back at her.

“I came in here to tell you that you missed a call from your Commander, Garoo. He said that you have an assignment in the day after tomorrow-”

“Let me guess? _‘Washing the uniforms of the private classes’_? Or- Oh! ‘ _Maybe doing that impossible Blumaroo tail jumping trick 40 times in a row before lunch’_?” Sela remarked. Keetra rolled her eyes from Sela’s sarcasm reply, while the woman shook her head slowly.

“No, nothing of the sort. In two days we have to do the safety inspection at the station. Commander Garoo has assigned you to be the one in charge of keeping an eye on the guests from Kreludor as they inspect our station top to bottom.” her mother stated. Both Keetra and Sela were quite surprised from the news. Sela more than Keetra, and the young Xwee leaned forward in her sitting this time.

“Wait… You mean to tell me that Commander Garoo has assigned _me_ to overlook the inspections from our station?” she asked. As soon as the woman nodded, Keetra could see Sela’s eyes widen and a large smile grew on her face as she fell back into the chair. Spinning herself around and around as she cried out.

“This is awesome! Oh my gosh! I can finally do a real job by myself with nobody to keep an eye on me and have to do whatever I want and- **OH** my gosh I’m just so excited I can just scream!” Sela squealed as she spun herself in the chair so much that her hair began to look much more wild and untamed than before. Margaret shrugged her shoulders as she got up from the wall.

“Well, you can’t do whatever you want on this assignment, but you have the authority to-:” She stopped herself as she continued to watch Sela spin herself on the chair continuously, before sighing softly with a shake of her head. “Whenever you’re done Sweetpea, I need you to help me clean up the living room.”

“Yes ma’am!” Sela chimed, finally stopping herself in the chair as she continued to giggle uncontrollably. Margaret chuckled just before looking back at Keetra and placing a gentle pat on her shoulder.

“If this is her reaction of having an assignment, then I’m really curious to see how a marriage proposal would look like.” the Shoyru remarked. Keetra only shrugged casually as she whispered back to her.

“I’ll be sure to have a recording of it once I do.”


	5. Mission: Inspect and Bug

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The time has come for First Lieutenant Derlyn Fonnet to go on a mission for her father. Her objective is to plant a bug and uncover any secrets pertaining to whatever plans Dr.Sloth has in store for Virtupets Station and it’s military. Getting into the station seems rather simple- 
> 
> But going inside to uncover the work? It’s gonna be more than just a walk in the park.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So part 5 is finally here! And soon I shall be able to put up part 6 as well! We are almost at the very last part you guys, and I had such a fun and amazing time writing out this series. I’m sure a lot of you guys are already so desperate to see how this ends, so just keep waiting for what’s to come! Just two more parts to go!!

**Day 17 of the Month of Hunting, Year 9.**  
**9:15**

The purple Gnorbu looked out the window of the spacecraft, seeing Neopia and it’s moon not far from distance. Her face was close up against the glass that her breath would fog the small portion of glass where her lips were. She tried her hardest to get a clear mind for the mission at hand, but she can’t help but feel overly anxious for the worst possible scenario. Normally on a mission, she would be wearing her heavy Kreludor military armor, along her space helmet. It gave her a sort of comfort and relief when she felt the heavy weight of the armor on her shoulders. To her, heavy armor equals heavy defence. Getting hit with lasers would do nothing but cause just a scratch on her armor, space debris would bounce off of her with ease, and if she was to hit something on impact then a small dent on her armor would be the only sign of the hit. She could easily avoid broken bones and bruises all in a day’s work, taking no damage to her body whatsoever.

Plus, her armor is purple and orange. Two of her favorite colors.

Unfortunately though, this mission required her not to wear her heavy armor. Instead, she was told to wear just a simple technicians uniform. A light brown jumpsuit with an orange belt and a pair of steel toe boots. While the attire was very light and flexible for any technician, the new clothes made the young First Lieutenant feel very uncomfortable and bare. Her anxiety got to the best of her as she began to twist the small black and purple band on her right ring finger continuously, knowing that at any moment she could possibly be under attacked and left defenseless if the mission was to turn in that grim direction.

“You need to relax Der, this mission will be like a walk in the park!” The orange Grundo next to her replied as he continued to navigate between the small asteroids and space debris on route to Virtupets Station. Derlyn looked over to him, seeing the shorter male wear the same light brown jumpsuit and the steel toe boots she wore. But he also wore a neon green belt and a nametag that said ‘ _Wegg_ ’ on it. The Gnorbu couldn’t help but scoff at his words as she turned her gaze back to the window, constantly twisting the band over and over again with her fingers.

“You mean it ‘ _should_ ’ be.” She stressed, grinding her teeth anxiously as she watched the small ship fly past many space rocks and within closer range to Virtupet Station. “We still have no idea what we are up against here Quill-”

“The only thing we are up against here is some technology and rooms against Intergalactic safety protocols.” Qlydae remarked smoothly as he pressed a button under the steering wheel while a voice exclaimed.

## -Autopilot Engaged-

The orange Grundo made sure he had heard the **-click-** sound before taking his hands off of the wheel to press two bright orange buttons down simultaneously until the steering wheel fell back into the dashboard. Closing itself securely into a hidden compartment. Just as the pod began to slowly guide itself through the large garage of Virtupets Station, Qlydae grabbed onto a small bag and passed it to Deryln. The female grabbed onto it and looked inside to see that it looked like a bag of tools and hand held calibration devices.

“Just some tools we’ll need during our inspections. I figure you know how to use them yes?” Qlydae remarked as he patted Derlyn’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, If you don’t. That’s the reason why I’m here as your trainer, to make sure you know what to do on the first day on the ‘ _job_ ’ in this field”. The male waited until the pod came to a stop at one of the docking ports before he unclipped his seat belt and got up from the chair. “Now let’s get going before they wonder why we’re running late.”

“Right behind you.” Derlyn muttered as she followed him. Qlydae was an average orange Grundo, born and raised in Kreludor, so he was just a few mere inches above Derlyn’s hip. But right after Derlyn walked out of the pod, she looked around to see that some of the Grundo’s in the Virtupet Station were close to being as tall as herself. Some were just average colors like red, blue, green, and yellow. Others were split, speckled, and even faerie too. But the Grundo’s that really stood out to her though, were the ones that were Mutant. They were nearly four heads taller than herself and their muscles were so large that they had to wear special uniforms, which even showed the ranks and group they were placed in. Derlyn wasn’t at all nervous about the larger Grundo’s in the garage, but she was slightly apprehensive when she saw two people walking up towards her and Qlydae just in front of their pod.

There was a large Blumaroo, one larger than any other Blumaroo she has ever seen, for he was even bigger than some of the Mutant Grundo’s in the garage. Derlyn figured that this man has to be Commander Garoo, a seemingly well known individual that is often brought up in Kreludor. She heard that he leads a whole platoon made entirely out of Blumaroo’s, and she had also heard rumors that he and Dr.Sloth were actually partners in the same military back in the day. However, she was caught off guard as she saw a young purple Xweetok walking just next to him. The Xwee had a determined look on her face as she walked next to her higher up, but that’s not the only reason why Derlyn was caught off guard.

She had received information that this woman was also the newest player to join team Virtupets Station for the Altador Cup. Her mind began to wonder about the incident with Kreludor’s training hall two days back, if perhaps this was the culprit behind the act of sabotage to their Yooyuball simulator. But she stopped amidst her own allegations as she noticed that on the young girl’s arm her rank was displayed as Private First Class, not Sergeant. Which seemed to have eased her slightly until the Commander spoke up.

“So, you two are the inspectors sent from Kreludor?” Commander Garoo asked. Derlyn broke out of her thoughts as she heard the man’s question as she and Qlydae saluted to him in perfect sync.

“Yes sir! Second Lieutenant Qlydae Wegg at your service! And with me is my First Lieutenant.” Qlydae replied nodding over to Derlyn. The purple Gnorbu nodded to the Blumaroo as the Grundo continued. “She had gotten herself into Astronomy, JROTC and Studying Intergalactic Languages as her main courses before the joining our military. Now that she’s become First Lieutenant rank, it’s a requirement for her to learn about the Safety Protocols within our military bases as well as how to check the Calibrations of the equipment.”

“That’s fine Second Lieutenant. The sooner we have you two here to do our inspections, the sooner we can all go home in peace.” The Commander remarked, having Derlyn nod with him. Sure it was common for a First Lieutenant to go back to learning the basics that should have been taught to Privates, but it wasn’t common for a soldier like herself to take up studies in Astronomy, JROTC and Intergalactic languages. When she was younger she had her mindset on wanting to travel throughout space and visit other solar systems outside of her own. This was why she had the odd selection of classes on recorded file. Of course she didn’t believe her plans would change when she had gotten herself into Yooyuball. So that was how she somehow ended up as the athlete she is today.

At least when she isn’t on active duty of course.

Derlyn watched as Commander Garoo looked over to the young Xweeok standing next to him before turning his back to the three to take his leave.

“Keep an eye on them to make sure they are doing everything according to protocol, Private First Class.”

“Yes sir!” The Xweetok replied with a salute, watching the older male walk through the automatic doors before it closed behind him. The young Xweetok put down her hand and looked over at the two, her eyes widen as a smile grew rather large on her face. “I know who you two are! You two are the players in the Altador Cup! You’re from team Kreludor!”

“Dang, I was certain these jumpsuits would have hidden our identity better.” Qlydae chuckled as he shook the girl’s hand. Derlyn rolled her eyes and crossed her arms as she felt the Grundo give a small nudged to her thigh. She knew this was his way of telling her to ‘lighten up’, so she eased her stance a bit as he continued to chat to the young Xwee. “So, I’m taking that you are a fan then?”

“Well, I really do admire your two’s play on the field. But I will have to say that I am a fan of my home team.” The young girl replied as she clapped her hands together excitedly. “I will say that I’m going to be playing for Team Virtupets this season too! I’m actually going to be their new defender-”

“Sela Pretore?” Derlyn asked, seeing the girl glance back at her with a raised brow.

“Woah, how’d you know? I didn’t think anyone would have heard about me before the cup-”

“All of the Captains in the teams are suppose to get a new flier for which new players are going to joining the cup in the year, or which players are going to be switched to new teams.” Derlyn added as she placed both hands on her hip, looking thoroughly at the other purple pet before her. She had read in her flier that they were to expect a new team for the Altador Cup, a new ‘Mysterious’ team. On top of that, she had also read that the new Xweetok was to be the new Defender to replace Kerib Vickers, who had quit the team after their last final run with team Virtupets last year. So of course she was more than interested to see what buttons she can push on the young girl when it comes to the field.

But, she and Qlydae had a mission to follow through now.

“Anyway, we need to go through our inspections before we overstay our welcome.” Derlyn remarked, seeing the young girl roll her eyes.

“Nah, I wouldn’t worry about any of that. In the words of Dr.Sloth himself, ‘ _When work makes a day long, turn the night into a sleepover’_!” Sela chuckled as she extended her arms to them. “Now… Let’s start the inspection with our very lovely garage!”

* * *

 

The inspection led from the large garage of the Virtupets Station military, to the landing dock, the training halls, the mess hall, the hallways of the living quarters, and even to their training room simulators as well. They weren’t allowed to go to the main hall where the shops and venders were because that inspection was made for another time. But soon the inspection finally lead the three to the communications tower within the base which was their last stop for the inspection. Although it was just a mere hour before midnight, Derlyn was just glad to reach the tower so they can finish the inspection and the two of them can move on with their mission at hand.

“Aaaannd here we are at our communication quarters!” Sela sang as the elevator doors opened. The tower was dark with only a little light coming from the large flood lights inside of the garage, which was visible from the tower’s own windows. There were chairs were neatly pushed into each desk, every computer screen was turned off and the main modules located within a few mere feet from the rows were put on sleep mode until the workers can come into work.

As the three made their way into the dark room, Derlyn saw Sela shiver after taking her first few steps inside.

“Wow… I didn’t know how creepy this place looks when it’s dark and empty.”

“Oh man, this ain’t nothin’. When me and Der were kiddos, we would actually sneak into the abandoned landing dock just on the west wing of the base we lived in. No one actually goes in there except for the soldiers who have to patrol the area during the twilight hours. So me and Derlyn would dare each other to stay in the landing dock without being scared and without being caught! But after being caught for… I think about a hundred times, our parents literally had to put cameras in our rooms so they can make sure we don’t sneak off again.” Qlydae laughed as he nudged Derlyn’s thigh with his elbow. “Aw man… Those were the days, huh Der? I think you had those cameras in your room until you graduated from the academy!”

“Oh yeah. I even remember one night you were so scared that you literally started bawling like a baby and we got caught within 2 minutes flat.” Derlyn mocked with a slight smile, before turning back with an expressionless facade. The female looked over the room and towards a large machine that had touch screens, control panels and blinking buttons covering the whole exterior. She could hear it hum and rumble as she stepped even closer to it.“Is this the last thing we need to check up on?”

“Yup! That’s Wanda.”

“ _‘Wanda_ ’ ?” Qlydae asked, seeing Sela waved a hand lazily in the air.

“Yeah. Our ‘ _Working Artificial Navigational Decent Autotron-_ ’ whatever the abbreviations meant. We call her ‘ _Wanda_ ’ because it sounds much cuter. She’s the machine that keeps this base running and floating with power cells and uh… Everything else we got.” Sela sighed as she pulled a chair out from one of the desks and sat down in it. “She hasn’t been acting like herself lately so be nice to her, okay?”

“Wait… It hasn’t been working properly? For how long?” Derlyn asked, kneeling down in front of the large machine in view of the panels, hearing Sela remark ‘ _I think about two or three months?_ ’.

This may have been Derlyn’s first day on the _‘job_ ’, but even she knows that if an important machine like this isn’t acting accordingly then it can jeopardize the whole station and the people living within it. Derlyn dug into her utility belt as she pulled out an automatic wrench, placing the tool on one of the bolt before pressing a button on it’s handle to work the wrench until it loosened the bolts enough to have it fall into the Gnorbu’s free hand. Derlyn quickly peeked over her shoulder at Seela as she continued to unscrew the next one.

“Shouldn’t you guys call a tech supporter a month or two sooner when this was all happening?”

“That’s the other problem we have.” Sela groaned as she placed a hand under her chin. “You see, the first eight times me and my comrades notice something sketchy with Wanda, we call for a tech person and we were always given with the answer of _‘Oh nothing is wrong with her because she’s just an old piece of machinery’_. Ugh, you don’t know how long this has been bugging me. Heck, my own mother was trying to see what is wrong with her and she’s a retired Staff Sergeant!”

“Well if it’s this old then surely you would need to replace this machine with updated tech, no?” Derlyn asked turning her head to Qlydae who only shrugged.

“That only depends on the base’s standards Der. You see, some bases don’t believe in replacement. Some build new machinery on top of old ones to preserve its old inner workings. Some don’t even bother to replace anything until it’s dead and useless for good.”

“That’s what we are alright. Dr.Sloth believes that if it’s still running then it’s good for another 12 or so more years.” Sela sat up straighter as she waved a finger in the air. “ _‘If the machine can still keep our base running, then it can still run just as if it was brand new!’_.That’s what he says. While I do agree that some older machines are better than others, we have to at least see what’s going on with our old tech before it dies out and becomes useless, you know?”

“Hey, that almost sounds like your dad and his old laptop.” Qlydae remarked to Derlyn. The Purple Gnorbu rolled her eyes as she took off the panel to look deeper into the machine while the Grundo continued to talk to the young Xwee next to him. “Der’s father has this old laptop from when he was just a foot soldier trying to colonize on Kreludor!” he snickered as he added on, “He still has it on his desk like a trophy, but by Fyora it looks like a fossil from Tyrannia-”

“It doesn’t look that bad Wegg.” Derlyn called out, taking out a small handheld flashlight from her utility belt as she shined it into the inner workings of the machine. She could see the wires and even some ports within the machine that continue to keep running as she dug inside deep for the problem. “And honestly, I think a fossil from Tyrannia looks more high tech than a piece of fresh dung from Meridell.”

“Oooooh sick!” Sela chuckled as Derlyn continued on with the inspection. She used the flashlight to carefully scan the inside of the machine as she looked over every intricate wire within the machine. After a look through the machine, she slowly poked her head out and looked over to Sela.

“Do you know if you guys have any modems or towers that connect to this machine?”

“Oh yeah, we have one little tower that was just installed just behind Wanda there.” Sela pointed over to the smaller tower which seemed to be nearly hidden from Derlyn and Qlydae’s sight. “We call it ‘ _Mini Wanda_ ’ because shes’ becoming a big pain like the bigger one”. Derlyn nodded as she shifted her spot closer to the tower. She could feel something was off with the newer tech before her. For one thing, it was hidden behind the older machine, despite it being a newer piece of technology. The second issue being that when she was close to the older machine, the constant humming sound seemed present, until she found out that the humming and rumbling was actually coming from the small tower instead of the older machine. It was like as if the smaller tower was taking over for the older machine, but why?

“So how long have you had this tower installed?” Derlyn asked. Sela pondered at the thought, using her hands to quickly count in her head before she looked over at Derlyn.

“Actually now that I’ve think of it… I think we’ve had this tower for about a good two or three months as well. Do you think this is making Wanda all loopy?” she asked.

“We’ll just have to find out.” Derlyn shrugged as she handed the Grundo next to her a flashlight. Derlyn knew for a fact that the new machinery was causing the weird phenomena with the oldest machine in the station, and she had a feeling this was the exact machine her father wanted her to look into and bug as well for her and Qlydae’s mission. Derlyn peeked over at the orange Grundo behind her, flicking her left ear to him as a signal to distract their ‘ _onlooker_ ’ while she investigates the strange new tower. She was relieved when her partner recognized the signal and turned his attention to the young Xwee sitting next to him.

“Hey, I know this is an odd time to ask but uh… Do you want to see some pictures I have from the last Altador Cup?” Qlydae asked.

“You have pictures? Really?” Sela asked curiously with a smile, but she quickly stopped herself as she glanced back at Derlyn. “Oh but… I don’t know if right now is a good time to do that-”

“I think it’s fine. I’m just gonna be looking around this tower and see what’s going on, it’ll only be a couple of seconds.” Derlyn remarked with a shrug. “Besides, I think Qlydae took some really good pictures of the field too. It’d be nice for you to see what the field looks like and who you’ll meet, no?” she asked. She watched the Xwee pondered in thought again as she looked over to see the male already with his tablet out in hand.

“Well… Just for a little bit. If my Commander sees me looking at pictures while on the job he’ll be furious!”

“Hey, just tell your Commander that you’re getting pointers on how to help your team win the Altador Cup!” Qlydae replied as he began to distract the young Xweetok. As soon as Sela’s eyes were onto the tablet screen, Derlyn used this time to get the automatic wrench to quickly unscrew the bolts to open up the panel and view the inside. The inner workings seemed fairly normal, until Derlyn noticed a small black box located just close to a bundle of other wires within it. Derlyn took her time to look over the box as she used a free hand to slowly pull off the ring she had on her right ring finger. She took the ring in one hand and pressed a small single button on it’s side, making the ring come apart in two pieces. The first piece she stuck back into her pocket, the other piece she held in her hand because as soon as it came apart, two smaller wires came out of it.

Derlyn quickly listened for her partner and the Private First Class still caught up in their discussion before getting back to the task at hand. Derlyn took the automatic wrench and hit it against the black box within the tower, making the box open up to a bundle of inner working of wires and a smaller computer chip within it’s core. Derlyn took the wires of her ‘ _ring_ ’ and placed them into the center along with the chip. Just as a spark of electricity ignited with the wires and computer chip together, Derlyn closed the black box hurriedly… Not before another electric spark got to her middle and ring finger as well.

“Ouch!”, Derlyn grunted from the pain as she immediately took her hand and head out from the tower. Within seconds after the black box was closed, the whole tower shut off and then soon began to reboot itself with a much more silent hum, the older machine next to it began to follow it’s same action afterwards with little to no humming at all.

“There, that should help it.” Derlyn remarked, shaking back some of the feeling into her fingers before she placed it into her mouth absentmindedly. “Fyora that hurts…”

“Woah! I didn’t actually think you could do it!” Sela replied as she jumped up from the chair and knelt next to Derlyn. Derlyn watched the younger Xwee pull out a small handheld calibration machine as she inserted a small plug into one of it’s many outlet slots. The handheld device loaded to update and check up on the calibration within the old machine as it counted upwards in percentages.

## 1%  
14%  
28%  
42%  
56%  
70%  
84%  
98%  
100%

“Hey! It even calibrated quickly too!” Sela chirped while she unplugged the device from the machine. She used her shoulder to playfully bump into Derlyn’s arm as a smile grew on her face. “Not bad for a Lieutenant on her first day.”

“Yeah, even if I nearly fried my fingers off.” Derlyn groaned, quickly using the automatic wrench to put the bolts back into it’s place before putting the tool back into her utility belt. “Well, I say that tonight was a very good night. Shall we head back home Quill?”

“Sure, of course we have to write a report on this right when we get there.” He replied. Derlyn walked towards the elevator along with Qlydae and Sela, watching the young Xweetok punch in the number to reach the garage floor of the station as the elevator began to move.

“Well once you have the report you can just submit it to me or my Commander via email. One of us will be able to hand it to Dr.Sloth and well… That’s how the inspection process works!” Sela remarked as she turned to the other two. “It’s a shame that you won’t be staying longer though. I would have love to hear about the other stories you guys have from the previous Altador Cup.”

“Well think of it like this.” Derlyn replied as she lightly bumped her arm into the younger girl with a mischievous smile on her face. “When we see you on the field, you’ll be making your own stories about how we beat your team.”

“Psh, as if!” Sela chuckled with a bump back to the Gnorbu. “We’ll get the cup one of these days. Just you wait!”

[To be cont.]


	6. Warfare and the Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The General of Neopia’s moon has been through so much in his life to have colonization happen just outside of Neopia. Exploration and war were present in his life, before long he soon made a family and then eventually he became in charge of Kreludor itself. After many years, a new threat of a war arising with Dr. Sloth has made this man take a course of action. Making his soldiers aware and even soon the civilians on the moon’s base as well. 
> 
> No matter who you are or what your age is, war effects everyone. 
> 
> And it’s his right to protect the lives on the moon no matter the cost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally Part 6!!! Only one more part to go before the final of Breaking Out Of A Soldier’s Boundary! In the meantime, I wanted to put up a 6th part to keep both 5 and 6 connected without spacing them too far. Also I apologize if its seems a but negative but im sure the last part should make up for it for sure. 
> 
> Anyway, sorry for the long wait! Enjoy!

The older gentleman stood in front of the large glass windows, despite wearing his dark shades indoors, he continued to watch the ship buzzing in and out of the moon's surface to the base and far off to the other side close to the planet of Neopia. He held onto a wine glass full of icy soda water as he took generous sips of the cool bubbly liquid. The older gentleman enjoyed the serene and dark depths of space as his mind began to wander over how long it had been since his own time on the moon.

He wasn’t an average citizen, nor an average species.

He himself wasn’t born on the planet of Neopia, despite having the features close to resembling that of a _‘Gnorbu’_. He wasn’t even born in the same solar system either. He had been born and raised in the Western Rim galaxy, a few light years away from this galaxy. He was just a young teenager when he had moved into the solar system to become one of the first people to colonize on the moon. During the same time others like himself have traveled to the planet ‘ _Neopia_ ’ to colonize there as well. Some of his own friends had moved onto the planet, never to be heard from again. Others have moved to the moon along with him to begin colonization and join forces to create a new home base.

Then there were others that stripped their status to join forces with Dr. Sloth.

The first war against Dr. Sloth and his station happened when he was but a young adult. The man had been one of the first groups to have breach inside the station. While he wasn’t proud from what he had seen and encountered during the first breach within the station, he was always sent back again and again to the front lines to fight. He would be in groups of 20 to 30 men, women and more. He would even be sent to the front lines with even the most intelligent of robots.

And yet, he would be the only one to come back.

It wasn’t until a peace treaty was signed and warfare against Virtupets station finally begun to die down, that the man decided to settle down himself. He had gotten together with a woman who had worked as an undercover spy for Kreludor during the first war. A woman who had actually came from Neopian Central to the moon when she was just a little girl, who made her way up the ranks just as he did. She fell into the Colonel rank when the two had gotten married, and that was the rank she had retired with when the two decided to have their daughter just three years later.

Of course family life and work life often butted heads with each other and over the course of years, things took dramatic changes. Eventually he reached up to the rank of General after his father had passed away at the young age of 150. He and his wife had divorced only months later, leaving him to raise their two year old daughter with the help of his friend Regina. Nonetheless, his daughter became a very well respected First Lieutenant when she grew up, and somehow she even became an athlete to represent Kreludor. It felt like the past war against Virtupets was finally put behind them, and the General had intended to keep it behind them for the sake of the future generations to come on Kreludor.

But that wasn’t the case at all.

For the past 10 years he had received numerous of messages and calls from his old comrades residing in Virtupets station stating that Dr. Sloth had planned for yet another attack on Kreludor.

Or rather, to his own station itself.

The General had used these past 10 years to find any information within the matter. Other than anonymous calls and questionable actions hidden within the station’s walls, he couldn’t point out any facts that the overlord was doing anything that could show potential signs of another upcoming war or attack. That is until he had received some interesting paperwork this morning from his own daughter.

He broke out of his thoughts when he heard the automatic doors open behind him, the sounds of heavy boots tapped against the metallic floor made the room echo up until it had died down at his desk. The older male smiled after taking yet another sip of his glass.

“Regina Wegg, how have you been my dear?”

“I have been better, Wesker.” the voice replied. The man turned around to see a slightly older split colored Grundo salute before him. She had been an active military woman from the same solar system he’s from. A Sergeant Major around the time he had joined the military and after many years of going through missions together, the two have been nearly inseparable. After his divorce with his wife, it was she who would come by to help him raise his two year old daughter. She would even bring along with her young son as well when she visited. Eventually making both of their children to become the greatest of friends that they are today. The woman placed her arm back to her side before she spoke. “I heard you have gotten something that could bring our validations to light?”

“Yes actually, something that Derlyn and Qlydae had picked up on their last mission.” The older male, Wesker replied as he sat himself at his desk. The woman continued to stand as the man placed his glass on the table. “Have you heard about your son going on a mission for me yesterday?”

“I have. My son and I had to go to the dry cleaners to wash his old uniform from who knows how many years ago.” She replied. “So other than the money you owe me for that expensive clean, what else do you have in store for me?”

“I have valid information that confirms about what Dr. Sloth has been planning within the station’s walls.” Wesker remarked as he grabbed onto his tablet. He swiped the screen and the large glass windows behind him slowly tinted, until it became an even larger screen which showed documents and papers from the tablet. Wesker looked down at the tablet to bring up different documents with actual voice recordings and private calls from several different men and even Dr. Sloth himself. The woman before him looked up at the information on the large glass walls, looking over carefully at the evidence he had brought up to her attention.

“Explain Wesker.”

“Derlyn uncovered a tower that has been connected to their ‘WiMax Advancing Network Data Archive’, or simply known as ‘Wanda’. The tower connected to this ‘Wanda’ in the main control base seemed to been a type of pirated spyware that would hide hidden conversations to and from Dr.Sloth’s own devices. While also picking up various of conversations along any form of connection within the station’s walls from its soldiers, to its own civilians. Especially those that indicate the following keywords within its calls such as… ‘ _Dr.Sloth’ ‘Warfare’ ‘War’ ‘Station’ ‘Spy’, ‘Kreludor’, ‘Neopia_ ’, and ‘ _Soldier_ ’ .” the man stated as he leaned back into his seat. “Our guess is that when we got little information about him from our allies, they were immediately contacted and dealt without our prior knowledge.” he stated. He watched the woman before him looking at the documents and recordings on the glass, seeing her swear under her breath before turning back to him.

“So… he’s known that we were onto him then?”

“Perhaps. From what my daughter has told me, the tower wasn’t installed until two to three months ago. This could mean that someone must have found out and placed the tower there to capture any of our people on the other side-”

“Or perhaps someone wanted to uncover the truth and placed the tower there knowing that we would send someone to inspect the station.” she interrupted, crossing her arms before continuing. “So… What course of action should we take now?”

“Nothing,” Wesker replied cheerfully as the woman gave him a confused glance. “I informed the soldiers to keep on the lookout, keep exits and bunkers open for civilians when the time comes, and to just await orders on the ready.” He stopped to take a sip of his drink before continuing. “In other words, we wait for them to come to us. We are more than prepared to handle whatever they throw at us.” Wesker used a hand to swipe at his tablet again, making the glass screen fade until it was transparent enough to view the space and planet outside of his window again. “I also want to tell you that your orders are to be aiding at the bunkers if an attack does come around-”

“I’ll be fine Wesk.” Regina replied as she placed her arms behind her back casually position. “I am more than capable to handle myself-”

“But not Yeana”. Wesker interrupted. The woman stopped in the middle of her sentence and gave the man a cold glare, but he made no sudden reaction from it. The General knew that bringing up the woman’s family to her during their meeting would surely get her on the defensive side, but it was important for her to know that she needed to protect more than herself.

She needed to protect her own family as well.

“I know your girl Yeana finally turned 15 but she’s still a child, Reggie. She’s in high school now and I hate to see any girl her age witness what war can do to us if it’s not in history books. We have a future to protect, and we vowed to protect that future when we came here to colonize on the moon.” He watched as the woman before him ponder about his words, she paced slowly back and forth from the glass to the desk again before she took in a hesitated breath.

“Fine,” She turned her view back to him, her red eyes seeming to glow despite the bright lights in the room “Just know that if I get any call while in the bunkers then I’ll drop anything to help my fellow soldiers.”

“Fine,” Wesker got up from his chair and stared back at her. His demeanor changed slightly from a warm greeting to being cold and distant as he too, glanced up at the woman with his own red eyes. “And before you walk out of the bunkers I want you to turn to your daughter and explain why you have to leave your family behind to help a few men-”

“Those ‘ _men_ ’ are like my own family Wesker. And I’ll drag you to your own cold grave if you think you can change my mind by twisting it to change into the value of my children.” The woman hissed as she slammed her hands on the metallic desk, creating perfectly round dents where her hands had hit. The man made no reply as the woman abruptly got up and made her leave, having the automatic doors close behind her. Wesker continued to sit at his desk, he pushed up his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he slowly reached for his tablet. He took his time to punch in a string of numbers as he waited for whoever was at the other end to pick up. After three times a voice finally came through.

“Hello?”

“Hello Yeana, it’s Wesker Fonnet.”

“Uncle Wesker! It’s so nice to hear from you! How have you been?” the girl replied. The man chuckled and soon his cold facade seem to melt when he started to talk to the girl on the other line.

“Fine honey, just fine! So, I had a little talk with your mommy and she seems to be in such a bad mood that she made a dent in my desk again. Can you maybe come over and bring your tool kit to show me how to fix it? I’ll be sure to give you credit for community service hours for your school.”

“Sure thing uncle! I’ll be there in 10 minutes!”

“Thank you so much dear. I’ll see you then!” he replied. He waited for the girl to hang up before he placed his tablet down on the table. He began to think to himself how much work he was putting on his plate during the time he had left on his hands. He had already began to talk to the soldiers and higher ups on what to do during a situation for a war to break out.

But he just didn’t know how to inform a child on how to prepare for an upcoming war.

[To be cont.? ]


End file.
